Advertising display support for price panels



June 21, 1960 :3, w, w o 2,941,321

ADVERTISING DISPLAY SUPPORT FOR PRICE PANELS Filed April 16, 1958 INVENTOR.

@Rdfi" WZVWD United States Patent ADVERTISING DISPLAY SUPPORT FOR PRICE PANELS Gross W. Wood, San Francisco, Calif, assignor to Raymond George LEsperance, Mill Valley, Calif.

Filed Apr. 16, 1958, Ser. No. 728,914

3 Claims. (Cl. 40-11) This invention relates in general to advertising support means for retail merchandise and particularly to wire clip advertising supports useful in combination with the price marker strip ordinarily facing the front edges of store shelves.

Merchandising on the retail level and methods of presenting goods to customers and the public-generally have radically changed in recent years. The heritage of the general store with unmarked open boxes and barrels, hardware hung in the rafters, and unreliable labels on tins and clothing has given way to a fiercely competitive battle for the consumer dollar. Order houses from which housewives used to order their daily supplies without having seen any merchandise at all have been replaced by serve-yourself markets wherein every conceivable attempt is made to bring different articles to the customers attention and inspection. Merchandising becomes, in many cases, display merchandising with numerous signs, exhibits and announcements, all competing for attention.

' Where merchandise is stored on open shelves, as in the required in the construction of the wire clip element, the

modern market, with a minimum of space for each item formation Without interference with the product or the g ready removal thereof from the shelves. Further, loose sign holders and signs are easily pushed off the shelf or displaced upon another shelf by a careless customer. Sign holders held by clamps over the edges of shelves have a degree of permanence, but tend to wobble and mar the shelves so that they must be periodically refinished. Price inserts held in retainer grooves on shelf edges are too small to contain printed descriptive matter and sometimes even the use of red numerals instead of black numerals, to indicate special prices goes unnoticed.

The advertising display support disclosed herein is for use with price panels, markers, or other advertising matter, and comprises a wire clip advertising support for retention in the retainer grooves used for holding price markers on the front edges of store shelves. The wire display support is formed from a single piece of stiff spring wire and has a planar open loop base member slightly larger in diameter than the distance between the retainer grooves. One end of the loop has a straight portion constituting a line of reference, as will later appear. 'By compressing the loop, it can be made to fit into the grooves and bear against them, the straight portion engaging one groove and serving to hold the wire clip in a single position; At the outward end of said straight portion the wire is bent inward of said loop for a distance sufiicient to clear the retainer grooves, and then further bent upward and outward from said loop and retainer grooves. The'wire terminates in an elongated hook or other means suitable for holding advertising or promotional material such as a laminated panel or other card containing information concerning merchandise. Because only spring wire is clip may be manufactured very cheaply. Since the wire is held by the spring action therein, there are no moving parts and price panels may be very quickly and simply mounted. The display support may be used in combina-- 7 tion with different sizes and types of display cards, fromwhich adaptation to any type of display is possible.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a novel display support for supporting advertising matter,

display panels, price markers, and the like from the price panel on the front edge of store shelves.

A further object of the invention is to provide an ad-' vertising spring wire display support for store shelves which snaps into position and is securely retained in the price marker grooves on the front edges of the shelves.

Another object of the invention is to provide an advertising display support comprising a spring wire clip member for snap engagement in the retainer grooves of the metallic facing generally provided for price markers on the front edges of store shelves. Another object of the invention is to provide an advertising support integral with a spring wire display support member, the latter being formed for snap-fixed engagement in a grooved retainer, such as generally provided for price markers on the front edges of store shelves.

Further objects are to provide a construction of maximum simplicity, economy, and ease of manufacture, also such further objects, advantages and capabilities as will fully appear and as are inherently possessed by the device and the invention described herein.

Invention further resides in the combination, construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and while there is shown therein a preferred embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that the same is merely illustrative of the invention and that the invention is capable of modification and change, and comprehends other details of construction without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claims.

The invention will be better understood upon consid eration of the following description and figures, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the advertising display support engaged in a price panel and showing the method of attachment of the wire loop within the grooves of said panel;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the spring wire advertising display support along the line 11-11 of Fig ure 1;

Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the spring wire display support;

Figure 4 is a side elevational view of the spring wire display support of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a front elevational view of an alternate embodiment of the advertising display support engaged between the grooves of the pricepanel, in which the axis of the wire loop is horizontal with respect to and parallel with the grooves of the price panel; and

Figure 6 is a side elevational view of the spring wire advertising display support shown in Figure 5, taken along line VI-VI thereof, and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawing and especially to Figures 1 and 2 thereof, there is shown generally a spring wire display support 11 mounted in position between parallel price retainer grooves 12 and 12a secured to the edge of shelf 14. The retainer grooves 12 and 12a may be of any type but usually they are made integral in an extrusion 15 which forms a facing for the front edge of market shelves. Such extrusions are well known and are in practically universal use. The spring wire display support'll is mposed of stilf spring wire, preferably steel, such as Patented June'21,-1960 3 piano wire, which hasconsid'e'rable integrity even in small diameters. The entire wire display support is formed from a single piece of wire, and comprises a loop portion 16 terminating in an open and unconnected end 17, and a card or other supporting means 18 extending angulai ly outward and terminating in anelongatedloop for ex-- ample, asa card support 26 at the other end, all as be described in detail hereinafter. Loop 16 is generally planar beginning with end 17', continuing in substantially Possibly, in order to obtain better spring action, it' maybe desirable to-have-the axis of the loop 23 at right angles't'o the-line ofthe parallel'retainer grooves 12 and 12a as shown in-FiguresS and 6. Here the end 17 is designed for substantial parallel bearing in the groove 12, continuing'in the parabolic curve-23" to' straight .por-- tion. 20, thence to a relatively short inturned portion 19'a* extending. a suflicient distance upwardly to clear the groove 12a, and thence upwardly and outwardly as beforedescribed:

Card supporting means' 18 may be a' straight member 24, as shown, with an elongated hook member 26 onthe" end thereof; or'other means for aflixing cards or signs to said who display support 11. The hook em bodiment'26 is easily'forrned to stand rigidly in either a vertical plane (see' Figures 2 and 4) or an inclined plane (see Figure 6) for reception and retention of a card or laminated panel 27' slotted along'its planar dimensions'. The angle of the hook element with respect to: the loop 16 may be varied to suit particular condi-- tions, i'.e., 45.

Card" supporting" means 18 is. preferably a continuation of=the planar portion 19 or19a' of'th'e loop 1'6by an integral wire section 21, which bends at 28 away from the end 19 at'an angle" inwardlyof loop 16 and generally along the same plane thereof'to' avoid the groove 12; Section 21 bends at the" other end thereof outwardly fromgloop 16 at'29. Bend 29 maybe a simple outward'bend' 31 as shown in.Figures and 6, or a reverse and outward bend 32iparticularly as shown in Figures 1 and 31 The reverse and outward bend32 tends to be somewhat stronger because of'the twisting action as-the.springy card supporting means'is deflected downward.

In operation. the distance across loop 16 from the straight portions22 of Figure land 20 of FigureS' to the opposing side at 17 is slightly greater'than theidis' tance between the retainer grooves 12 and 12a. By compressing the loop 16 it can be forced'between'grooves 12"and 12a with straight portion 22 engaging either groove. Upon release of the loop the spring action forces the straight portions 22 of Figure l and 20 of Figure Sand opposing side 23'to bear against one of the grooves, the latter thereby holding wire element 11 in place and against'any rotativem'ovement. Grooves 12'and 12a'will ordinarily be disposed one above" the otherand from suchplane, card supporting means'ls will project outwardly and upwardly. However, in some instances the front edge of the shelf is slanted inwardly at'the-top, so that when usedunder such conditions the projection 18 will stand more vertically upward.-

Obviously, it takes only an instant to remove thead vertising display support from the grooves. In the form shown in Figure'l all that is-necessary is to pull down wardly on the means 18 against the spring of the open member 17' andthe clip is released from engagement with the groove 12, while in: the form shown in Figure 5, the pull is upwardly.

While the invention has been disclosed with respect to several preferred embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous variations and modifications may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention and thus it' is"- not intended to limit the invention except as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. An advertising display supportfor spring engagement between the parallel grooves of a price receiving panel, formed of a single piece of spring wire or the like, comprising in continuous integral combination, a loop portion having two legs and a curvature of approximately therebetween, the tangent of which curvature bears in one of the grooves of a price receiving panel, one leg of said loop portion being a free end and spaced from every other portion, a substantially straight portion extending from and at' right angles to the other legof saidf loop-portion for engagingin'the' opposite groove of said price receiving panel, a segment extending inwardly at right angles to said straight portion and generally toward thesaid free" end, said loop, straight portion and segment all lyingin the same plane, and an angularly outwardly disposed advertising support means extending from said segment, said straight portion being resiliently compressible-against said loop portion for quick release from its bearing 'in the groove of the price receiving panel.

2'. All advertising display support for spring engagement in the oppositely disposed parallel grooves of a store shelf'price tag'molding, comprising in combination a parabolicloop portion having two legs, one of said legs being a free end and spaced from every other portion, for engagement in one of'thegrooves of a price tag molding, the other of said legs being a relatively straight portion for" engagement in the opposite groove ofsaidpri'ce tag molding, a segment extending inwardly from said straight portion and substantially at right anglestheretm-said loop, leg portions and segment all lyin'gin the'same'jplane, and a supporting portion hav= ing' a; terminal hook, extending from said segment in a difierent pian'e', all of said portions being formed from a single'continuou'spiec'e of springw'ire'or the like;

3; Anadvertising' display support forspring engage m'e'ntin the oppositely disposed parallel grooves of. a store shelf price tag molding, comprising in combination a-parab'olic loop portion having two legs, the axial tangent of saidloopb'earing in o'n'eof the grooves of the price tag molding, one of said legs being a free end and-spaced from every other portion, the other of said legs". having. a straight portion extending therefrom at right angles inwardly for engaging in the opposite groove of said price tag molding, a'segment extending inwardly from said straight portion and substantially at right angles thereto; saidloop, leg portions, straight portion and'segment all'lying in thesaine plane, and a supporting portion extending from said segment in a plane different from the first mentioned plane, all portions of said combination being a single continuous piece of spring wire or the like. 1

References Cited in' the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

